Chapter 2
The Sorting
A/N: Don't own. Never will.
Tiger without stripes- Thank you for the lovely review! I have a lot of inspiration for this story, so I won't be letting it go anytime soon. I try to write and update the first few chapters daily or semi-daily Monday-Friday. However, if I hit writer's block, our power goes out, or it's a holiday, it may be up to two weeks. I will try not to make it longer, however. I may post on Saturday or Sunday, but I highly doubt it. If I do, it will be occasional.
.life528: Thank you for the review! It encourages me to write!
Whenever anyone reviews, it tells me to update that chapter sooner than I might have otherwise! Thanks, both of you!
A tall, elegant woman with light brown hair falling halfway to her shoulders stood at the center of the room, commanding the attention of the sixteen and seventeen year olds entering. "Please," she said, her voice melodic but commanding, "Sit down. I am Ministry of Magic Official and Hogwarts Professor Mary Maberrie. Today, you will be partnered with a sixth year classmate. You will have no classes except Parenting with your "spouse", since at all times one of you will need to care for your children. Starting today, you will have a five year old, twin four year olds, and a two year old. Girls, you will also have a simulated pregnancy, which can give birth to a single child, twins, or triplets. Your children will age at a rate of two weeks to a year.
Girls, your pregnancies will be nine weeks long. You can name your children, and their genders will vary. Please, spouses, do not fight over names, as you have four different kids to name with eight different names for first and middle name. There is a high chance that you will have at least one of each gender. Each of your houses will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms. If you have six or more children, another bedroom will be added magically to your house. I encourage you, especially as your children age, to separate the genders into the two children's bedrooms. It is however, your choice.
At the age of eleven, which will be in about three months for your eldest children, they will be sorted, get a wand from a fake, cheap Diagon Alley, and take pretend Hogwarts classes. Your eldest children will be twenty seven by the time this simulation is finished. The money you get will be fake, but it will work at the fake Diagon Alley. The amount of money is based on your grades; the higher grades you get in your other classes, the more money you earn for your children. The more money you earn for your children, the better grade you get in the "Getting enough money for your children" section. This class is 30% of your grade for the entire year. It will be a challenge to balance the children with your first year NEWT level courses. That is the point. When you're a parent, you can't choose and decide what you will do. You have to be able to both care for children and do your courses with good grades- especially now, when your good grades in the other courses actually helps to care for your children!" She sat down, slightly out of breath.
"Okay, let us begin the sorting." she said two minutes later. She put scraps of paper into two different baskets and pulled one out of each of them. "Harry Potter and Padma Patil." She read. The shy Asian Ravenclaw gave Harry a little smile as the two of them went to sit at a desk together. Harry was glad he hadn't gotten one of the Slytherins. He felt that Padma would be easy to get along with and also a good mother for their fake children. Mary Maberrie (yes, similar to "Naberrie" from Star Wars, sounded like a good name), took out two more from the two baskets, and read "Lavender Brown and Theodore Nott." The two of them went awkwardly to their table. Lavender was relieved. If it had to be one of the Slytherins, the quiet and seemingly bookish, but rather powerful pureblood Theodore Nott was one of the best. His family swore allegiance to the Dark Lord, but Theodore was not overly forward in pushing forth his family's agenda. Pansy and Draco both were.
She took two more scraps and read, "Tracey Davis and Seamus Finnegan." The Slytherin and Gryffindor went to their seats. Tracey was one of the best Slytherins to be paired up with. She was the Slytherin class clown, and Seamus was the Gryffindor class clown, so it was easy to see that they would probably be competing for funniest a lot. They were a good inter-house match, since Tracey wasn't quite as cruel as her Slytherin classmates. She was very ambitious, though, and that was how she'd gotten into Slytherin.
Professor Maberrie read the next pieces of paper, "Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom." the quiet Hufflepuff and the shy clumsy Gryffindor smiled at each other, each happy to have an easy-to-get-along with, cheerful partner. They may not have the best of grades, but most of the people felt theirs would be the quietest, most orderly household during most times, and when they got rowdy, it would be very rowdy. That was the type of person that both Susan and Neville were. Quiet usually, but when rowdy, very rowdy.
Next, the professor read, "Amanda Reilly and Ronald Weasley." Ron sighed. He had hoped to be paired up with Hermione, but at least he was paired up with a Ravenclaw not a Gryffindor. Amanda, who had hoped to be paired up with Anthony Goldstein, had similar thoughts running through her head. The two of them went and sat down, the first pair to be in the second row, as there were four double desks in each row.
Next was read, "Mandy Brocklehurst and Gregory Goyle." Amanda and Ron both felt bad for Mandy. Mandy was Amanda's best friend, because they had the same first name. Ron felt bad for anyone who would end up with the selfish, stinky, fat stupid git. Without their admittedly smarter friend Malfoy, they would be nowhere at all.
The next pairing was "Millicent Bulstrode and Terry Boot." For anyone who had to be paired with Millicent, thought Harry, Terry was a good one. He was tall and burly, and very stubborn and would be good to go against Millicent, who could be the devil incarnate when she wished. She was rather spoiled as well, despite her apparently mature age.
Next, the professor called out, rather loudly, "Pansy Parkinson and Dean Thomas." Dean's best friend Seamus shot him a sympathetic look as Pansy began complaining loudly. The threat of detention and all her makeup products being taken away caused her to sit down, glaring at Dean. If looks could kill, Dean would be dead and he had already scooted to the end of his chair, as far away from the mad Pansy as he could. Pansy wasn't really mad, but she often seemed that way to those who weren't her friends.
The next pairing was "Leanne Hunter and Ernie Macmillan." Hermione was glad. A quiet Ravenclaw and a quiet Hufflepuff would make for a cordial pairing. Their children, she knew, would be brought up well. There was a few people in their houses, who knew that Leanne and Ernie had crushes on each other, who clapped. Both were blushing as they sat down at their double desk.
After them came "Lisa Turpin and Vincent Crabbe" an outgoing, self-opinionated Ravenclaw combined with… Crabbe (no mere words can describe the stubborn vileness of the figure known as Vincent Crabbe). Harry smelled trouble, but knew Lisa was capable enough to take care of it. He felt sorry for Lisa, since he knew she'd probably be doing most of the cooking, cleaning, and caring of the children, and caring for five or six children is pretty hard. He could tell that from the Weasley home.
Next was "Pavarti Patil and Anthony Goldstein". Amanda looked slightly sad, as did Pavarti because Pavarti would have rather been with Ron. But they both looked like they were okay with their partners. There certainly wasn't any sort of an outburst. Hermione began to be worried. There were only four pairs left to be sorted, and she was still not sorted. Neither were Blaise or Draco, so there was a good chance that she would end up being with a Slytherin.
After Pavarti and Anthony came "Daphne Greengrass and Justin Finch-Fletchley." Daphne looked suitably abhorred: a Slytherin pureblood rich heiress paired with a muggle born Hufflepuff boy. Two contrasts, and Daphne, an overall nice girl, didn't look happy. Neither did Hermione, since it was probably she would end up with a Slytherin boy.
The teacher's next words killed her hopes that she would end up with the Ravenclaw who was left, "Hannah Abbott and Michael Corner." Hermione was glad that the shy Hufflepuff Hannah hadn't had to be with a Slytherin. But her own hope was no longer existent that she wouldn't be with a Slytherin. She just hoped she wouldn't be with the Slytherin Prince.
Mary Maberrie pronounced slowly the words of Hermione's almost doom, "Sue Li and Blaise Zabini." Draco glared at her. But it was not until after she said, "Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy," that all hell broke loose. Immediately, there was a fight going on between Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Bulstrode, Parkinson, and the other side: Potter, Weasley, Finnegan, Longbottom, Thomas, and Macmillan. They were all determined that the pairing wouldn't happen. It took Professor Mayberrie 15 minutes to calm the ten boys down. Then she said, sternly, "120 points from Slytherin, 100 points from Gryffindor, and 20 points from Hufflepuff and detentions, Slytherin with Professor McGonagall, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff with Professor Snape, tomorrow at seven p.m.."
Immediately, in unison, Draco and Hermione yelled, "What were you guys thinking? You just lost us an awful lot of house points, you idiots!" Immediately after, they turned and glared daggers at each other. They had just spoken in unison, and as enemies: The Gryffindor Princess vs. the Slytherin Prince, they weren't happy at all.
Professor Maberrie said, "Sit down at your desk, Malfoy, Granger. Or you will lose your house each 50 points." Immediately they sat down, but each on the end of their respective chairs, to be as far away from each other as possible. "Okay, everyone!" said the professor cheerfully. "Be here tomorrow at nine for the second lesson! You will get your houses and also your children tomorrow afternoon! The lesson is over for today. These pairing are permanent, even if your godfather is the Potions professor," here she glared pointedly at Draco, "So don't even try to get them switched. Alright! You're done."
Hermione sighed as she left the classroom… one nightmare of what was obviously going to be a nightmare was over…
Please Read and Review! What do you think of the partners?
